Boy, 14, shot near Douglass High

Police chase suspect

victim hospitalized with wound to back

A 14-year-old boy was shot in the back yesterday on the grounds of Frederick Douglass High School as the school's football game was approaching halftime.

The boy was shot once shortly after 5 p.m. in or near the school parking lot off Gwynns Falls Parkway, some distance away from the playing field, according to a city police spokesman, Officer Troy Harris.

City and school police chased a man they believed to be the shooter across Gwynns Falls and into Mondawmin Mall, where they lost sight of him. He was wearing dark clothes and a gray hood, Harris said.

Meanwhile, the victim made his way several blocks to the 1900 block of N. Payson St., where he was taken by ambulance to Maryland Shock Trauma Center. He was later reported to be in fair condition.

Sandra Hill, who identified herself as the boy's aunt, said she heard a knock on her door between 5 p.m. and 5:30 p.m., and discovered her wounded and "panicky" nephew pacing back and forth by her front steps.

"He just said he'd been shot," she said. She identified him as Troy Fenwick Jr., a seventh-grader at Howard Park Middle School. She said he had been with his older brother at Douglass.

The boy did not collapse, and he sat on the steps only when his aunt suggested it, she said.

Police said they were investigating conflicting reports about the incident, but it appeared that the shooter and the victim were in separate groups when the confrontation occurred.

Some people attending the game said they heard several shots ring out.

Craig Sanders, 17, a student from the visiting Southside Academy, said he was sitting in the bleachers when he heard the gunshots. Uncertain whether the shooting would continue, fans immediately rushed to field level, where they felt less exposed, he said.

"Everybody ran down to get out of the way," he said.

Zack Clemens, a player from Southside, said he thought he heard five shots.

"I was talking to one of my coaches, and they started shooting," he said.

The incident, however, happened up a hill and out of sight of the playing field and bleachers.